The Chamber Music Society and the ‘Art of the Sonata’

by Chamath Divitotawela

The fourth concert of the critically acclaimed “Chamber Music Plus” series was held on the February 9 at the Goethe Institute Hall in Colombo. It was a presentation of the Chamber Music Society of Colombo, sponsored by Concerts Norway through the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the Goethe Institut, Colombo.

The concert in progress

The concert entitled “The Art of the Sonata” began with obscure Gottfried Finger’s (ca. 1660 – August 31 1730) Sonata in C for Trumpet and Oboe. Naveen Fernando, principal trumpet of the CMSC and Hasitha Pathirana, principal oboist of the CMSC handled the solo parts and were accompanied by cembalo and continuo. Gottfried Finger was a native Moravian Baroque composer who later migrated to England in around 1685 to serve in king James the 2nd’s court and Catholic church.

The Sonata performed was typical of the examples of the era and comprised a series of delightful dances. The playing of the soloists was invigorating and enjoyable, but a slightly more baroque-style of cello bowing would have been ideal.

The Gottfried Finger was followed by an early piano sonata of Muzio Clementi’s, (January 24 1752 – March 10 1832) the prolific late classical composer. Eshantha Peiris who is a well respected multi-genre musician and also the CMSC’s primary keyboardist, chose to approach the Clementi Sonata with a musical and technical reticence that suited the music well. The balance between left and right hands and subdued use of pedal was appreciated. What was also illuminating was the Clementi sonata’s early use of the gradually developing theoretically accurate ‘sonata form’.

Next on was one of the well-known Sonata’s ever composed in the Romantic era, Johannes Brahms’s ( May 7 1833 – April 3 1897) sublime violin and piano sonata in A, op. 100. Performed admirably by Satish Casie Chetty, a high ranking violinist of the Chamber Music Society and Eshantha Peiris on piano. Here is a Sonata that contains some of the best Chamber music ever written, certainly some of the most intimate sounds to come from both violin and piano together in a romantic era setting. Satish’s performance was slightly musically underplayed, but perhaps that approach worked, the A major Sonata of Brahms in particular not requiring too much extroverted dramatics. Eshantha’s equal contribution towards the entire interpretation was apt and complimentary. The acoustics at the middle to back of the Goethe Hall are not very favorable to musicians and instruments that are not projected with purpose. We did feel that from where we were sitting, the sound of the violin on the whole could have been just slightly more upfront.

Next on offer was a very unusual piece of music with the title Sonata. A work for trombone and piano by a contemporary Austrian composer named Siedler. Not very much can be said of this composer since there are no program notes distributed at ‘Chamber Music Plus’ concerts, most of the relevant information being verbalised on stage by the musicians.

As the music went, the Sonata was intriguing, firstly, the sound of the trombone, played that evening by the concert-master of the CMSC, Lakshman Joseph de Saram, who insisted that he was not a multi instrumentalist, but liked to moonlight occasionally on the trombone which he studied as a second instrument under the principal bass trombonist of the Met Opera Orchestra in NYC. The playing was in turns, sonorous, brash, and quite agile for such a large and unwieldy contraption of moving tubes, slides and valves. Compositionally, it lacked to some extent, a coherent musical form, the individual movements not really holding together to form any sort of structural identity.

However, the playing was competent and we were appreciative of the opportunity to listen live to an instrument that is not featured too often on the concert stage.

For the finale, as always, the CMSC brought out the heavy weaponry, this time in the guise of the finest string section in the country performing Heinrich Franz Biber’s (August 12 - May 3 1704) spectacularly innovative Battalia no. 10 in D major. Biber, a Bohemian-Austrian composer best known for his ‘Mystery Sonatas‘ for solo violin, was one of the most prominent Baroque composers for violin and string instruments. His ‘Battalia’ for string ensemble was truly astonishing, all sorts of beguiling ‘special effects’ including the extremely rare requirement of having the double bassist play her instrument having placed a piece of sheet music between two strings to simulate the sound of a snare drum on a battle field! The music was intoxicating, and the playing, brimming full of bravado and technical brilliance.

The CMSC seems to have a monopoly on the most dedicated and erudite audience in this city, rain or shine, it is always a well-heeled full house displaying the most sophisticated concert etiquette. No ring tones, and no condescending announcements from the stage on that subject either. No idle chatter, no fashion photographers and no whimpering babies. There is serious and tangible empathy between the audience and musician at all times. In the end I suppose, it’s all about the ‘content‘ and its execution, and the Chamber Music Society of Colombo, are masters at that game. We are getting spoiled.